Staple remover



W. H. MISSON STAPLE REMOVER Sept. 11, 1956 Filed Jan. 9, 1953 I n I u nm m a n n u u N u n I u I N 0 5 v, aw m/MM W. n WM m 3 6 United StatesPatent STAPLE REMovER "William H. Misson, Los Altos, Califi, assignor toZip Products Co., Los Altos, Calif., a partnership Application January 91953, Serial No. 330,414

4 Claims. '(Cl. 254-28) My invention relates to devices useful inremoving staples from one or more sheets ofpaper to which they I havebeen affixed. Staples ordinarily are formed of a band of wire or metalpartly lying just above the surface of a sheet of paper and providedwith prongs at each end which pierce the paper and are clinched on thereverse side thereof. Various implements and means are utilized forremoving such staples whendesired and it is the general object of myinvention to provide an improved staple remover for this generalpurpose.

Another object of my invention is to provide a staple remover which iseasily utilized as a desk tool and is readily operated by a user withlittle or no ditficulty in engaging the staple and removing it.

Another object of the invention is to provide a staple remover whichconfines the staple being removed so that it does not flyindiscriminately through the air and so that it can be disposed of intoan appropriate receptacle.

Another object of the invention is to provide a staple remover having anatural gripfor ease of use.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a staple removerwhich is simple mechanically and easy and economical to manufacture .sothat it can be furnished at a relatively low price.

Another object of the invention is to provide a staple remover effectiveto remove staples even under adverse conditions.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a staple removerin which considerable force can readily be exerted by the user in orderto remove even staples which have been tightly clinched.

Other objects, together with the foregoing, are attained in theembodiment of the invention described in the accompanying descriptionand illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is in part a side elevation of a staple remover constructed inaccordance with my invention and shown in staple engaging position, andin part is a cross section on a vertical median plane through the stapleremover.

Figure 2 is a cross section, the plane of which is indicated by the line22 in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a bottom elevation of the structure shown in Figure l, aportion of the handle being broken away to reduce the size of thefigure.

Figure 4 is a front elevation of the staple remover of Figure 1 andshown in the position ofFigure '1.

Figure 5 is a cross section comparable to Figure 1 but showing thestaple remover in the staple extracting position.

Figure 6 is a front elevation comparable to Figure 4 but showing thestaple remover in the position of Figure 5.

In its preferred form, my staple remover is designed especially for usewith staples of the sort which pass through a sheet 6 of paper or thelike and include a central, generally horizontal portion 7 of wire orthe like having a pair of downturned ends 8 clinched on the bottom ofthe sheet. The staple remover itself includes a frame 11 having agenerally planar base 12, the plane of 2,762,604 Patented Sept. 11, 1956which is designed to be almost exactly coincident with the plane ofthepapersheet .6 so that-the staple remover has a firm support on thepaper, particularly when the paper is resting on a desk or the like. Thebase 12 is approximately rectangular in plan and extends upwardly andrearwardlyto merge with a handle 13 shaped to afford an appropriate gripfor .the users hand. The frame 11 is preferably fabricated of a pair ofinterfitting or partly telescoping halves .14 and 16 convenientlymoulded of plastic or the like for good feel and light, economicalconstruction. The interior of the handle is preferably hollow so thatmuch of the weight of the staple remover is adjacent the base 12.

The forward portion. of the frame 11 is .provided with an aperture 17and the base portion is provided with a connecting aperture 18. Filling.theapertures and situated within the frame 11 is a metal foot 19 ineffect constitutinga portion of the frame. The foot 19 is formed of a.sheet of metal having a pair of side walls 21 and 22 bent'upwardly tolie snugly within the side walls 23 and 24 of the frame 11. The foot 19is held in position by .a pair of through rods.26 and 27 extendinglaterally beyond the sides of the foot and received in recesses in thematerial of the frame .11. There is thus provided an interlockingrelationship between the walls 23 and 24 of of the frame halves and the.foot .19 to hold the foot in position,,although .invisibly vso sincethe recesses in the walls .23 and 24 do not .extend entirelytherethrough.

As .part of the foot 19, considered as a portion of the frame,- there isprovided an extension in the form of a central prong 28 relatively thinin vertical dimension and relatively narrow in transverse .dimensionwith respect to the transverse dimension of the staple portion 7. The

prong 28 is provided with a narrowed point 29 also thinned nearly to adull, vknife edge. As the staple remover is advanced over .the surfaceof the sheet 6 with the foot ,19 and the base 12 nearly or firmly incontact with the paper, the prongeasily enters under the transverseportion 7 of the staple and becomes interposed between the staple andthepaper.

In accordance with my invention and to cooperate with thecentral prong28, I provide va pair of lifting tines 31 and ,32 of approximately thesame vertical dimension as the central prong and together with the prongmaking up a transverse dimension approximately that or slightly lessthan thatof the staple 7. T he .two lifting tines are formed preferablyas forward extensions of the front wall 33 aflfirst, .lowerpositionco-planar orvsubstantially so with the central prong and with. the foot19 of the base, into a second, upper position remote from the centralprong and lifted therefrom as shown in Figure 5. The opera tion of thelever 34 between those two positions is effective tol-ift the staple 7from its clinched position, the material of the staple deforming forthat purpose, and actually extracts the staple from the sheet 6.

The lever .34 is preferably normally in its co-planar first position andI. provide a .spring means for urging t-helever into that position.Conveniently, a leaf spring 41 of approximately 8 shape is disposed withone end confined in the channel formed by the upper wall 36 of theextracting lever and the cars 38 and 39 depending therefrom. The spring41 is turned around the rod 27 and is also curved around the rod 26.This mounting serves to secure the spring in its operating position. Thespring extends through a flat portion 42 overlying the foot 19 and as itemerges through the aperture 17 it is turned upwardly to provide aspring finger 43 overlying and spaced from the central prong 28.

The spring as so arranged has at least two functions. It is effective tourge the lever 34 with respect to the frame toward its lower-mostposition with the lever resting against the foot 19 and with the pair oflifting tines both planar with the central prong. The spring 41 is alsoeffective, particularly the spring finger 43, to overlie the staple 7when the prong and tines are engaged there with and to confine thestaple being removed as the tines lift it away from the sheet 6. Withoutthe spring finger 43, the remover acts to remove the staple but oftenthe staple suddenly parts from the sheet and away from the remover andflies around becoming lost or even causing injury.

The spring finger 43 acts as a restraining keeper so that, as shown inFigure 5, a removed staple is gripped between the upper surface of thelifting tines and the lower surface of the spring finger. The springfinger is sufficiently resilient so that staples of different size andin different positions are still well retained, the extreme end of thespring finger being slightly recurved to act particularly as a tensionedretaining device. When the lever 34 is released so that the spring 41 iseffective to return it to its initial position, the removed staple is nolonger pressed against the spring finger 43 and upon a suitablemanipulation of the remover can be dropped into a suitable receptacle.

While the lever 34 can be directly actuated by the user, I prefer toprovide a means which is capable of imparting considerable power to thelever yet with a natural movement by the user. To that end, the twohalves of the handle are bridged by a rod 51 serving as a pivot pin foran index finger lever 52. This is conveniently formed of plasticmaterial and has a forward cam portion 53 rocking upon the upper surface36 of the lever 34. The index finger lever 52 also has a finger portion54 protruding in a convenient location through an aperture 56 formedbetween the halves of the handle 13.

In practice, a user picking up the staple remover and grasping thehandle 13 in his hand has his index finger fall quite naturally upon thefinger portion 54. With the staple remover so gripped it is easily urgedforwardly, when in the Figure 1 position, into engagement with a stapleas described. With the users index finger pulling the index fingerlever, considerable power can be applied to extract a staple, even onewhich has been well clinched through a large packet of papers. Theremoved staple, being retained temporarily in the remover, is releasedas the index finger lever 52 is released, the spring 41 being ofadequate power not only to restore the lifting tines from their raisedposition to their co-planar position but also having adequate force torestore the lever 52 to its normal location.

What is claimed is:

1. A staple remover comprising a hollow frame, a prong fixed on andprojecting centrally from said hollow frame, a spring having a centralfinger projecting from said hollow frame in a location overlying andspaced from said prong and having a portion extending into said hollowframe, a pair of lifting tines disposed on opposite sides of said prong,an extracting lever within said hollow frame and integral with saidlifting tines, means for pivoting said extracting lever on said hollowframe in a position to move against said portion of said spring, anindex finger lever extending into said hollow frame into engagement withsaid extracting lever and extending out of said hollow frame, and meansfor pivoting said index finger lever in said frame.

2. A staple remover comprising a hollow frame in the shape of a handleand having a planar base, a prong fixed on and projecting centrally fromsaid hollow frame substantially coplanar with said base, a spring fingerprojecting centrally from said hollow frame in a position overlying andspaced from said prong, a pair of lifting tines disposed on oppositesides of said prong and in one position thereof substantially coplanarwith said base, an extracting lever within said hollow frame andintegral with said lifting tines, means for pivoting said extractinglever on said hollow frame, an index finger lever extending into saidhollow frame in a location to cam against said extracting lever andextending out of said hollow frame in a location for operation by theindex finger of a user grasping said hollow frame, and means forpivoting said index finger lever on said frame.

3. A staple remover comprising a hollow frame in the shape of a handleconformed for holding in one hand of the user, a base on said hollowframe, a central prong fixed with respect to said hollow frame andprojecting from said base, an extracting lever within said hollow frame,means for pivoting said extracting lever on said frame, a pair oflifting tines projecting from said extracting lever out of said hollowframe and disposed on opposite sides ofsaid central prong, a leaf springwithin said hollow frame and engaging said hollow frame and saidextracting lever for urging said tines into a position substantiallycoplanar with said prong, an extension on said leaf spring constitutinga spring finger projecting from said hollow frame and overlying saidprong, and an index finger lever pivoted in said hollow frame, saidindex finger lever having one portion within said hollow frame incamming engagement with said extracting lever and having another portionprojecting from said hollow frame in position to be engaged by the indexfinger of said one hand of said user.

4. A staple remover comprising a hollow frame in the shape of a handleand having a base, a prong fixed on and projecting from said-base, anextracting lever having a pair of lifting tines disposed on oppositesides of said prong outside of said hollow frame, means mounting saidextracting lever within said hollow frame for movement between a fixedposition with said tines substantially coplanar with said prong and asecond position with said tines away from said prong, a spring withinsaid hollow frame for urging said tines toward said first position, andan index finger lever pivoted on said hollow frame, said index fingerlever having a portion within said hollow frame in operative engagementwith said extracting lever for overcoming said spring and moving saidtines into said second position, and said index finger lever havinganother portion projecting from said hollow frame toward said base in aposition to be engaged by the index finger of the hand of a usergrasping said handle.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,481,647 De Generes Sept. 13, 1949 2,492,246 Von Cseh Dec. 27, 19492,564,585 Shaw Aug. 14, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 63,213 Germany July 8, 1892

